The nurses' union on Monday welcomed the new Health Minister's proposal of turning St Luke’s and Karin Grech hospitals into a “health village” while maximising clinical floor area at Mater Dei.

On Saturday, Jo Etienne Abela told a radio programme Malta needs a second national hospital to keep up with its growing population. 

He told host Andrew Azzopardi on RTK 103 that the Gwardamangia area could serve that function: non-clinical services, including the medical school, could be shifted away from Mater Dei to St Luke's and Karin Grech.

That would allow "every nook and cranny" of Mater Dei to be used for clinical purposes, with the hospital also undergoing enlargement "where the concrete allows us to". 

On Monday, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses said it has been calling for new wards at Mater Dei for some time now.

"It is not acceptable to have patients and nurses in corridors or other hospital areas that were never designated as clinical wards," the union said. 

From when MDH was first "conceived", MUMN had insisted that more "capital projects are needed to elevate the suffering, lack of human dignity and degradation one feels when placed in undesirable areas opened up due to lack of space".

Abela's comments on Saturday were a "great relief" for MUMN, which said such capital projects could be launched in collaboration with the private sector just like what had happened in the elderly sector. The new elderly hospital built as an extension to the St Vincent De Paul Residence was "a success story", they said. 

MUMN said the government should prioritise the renovation of Mount Carmel Hospital as it "would offer better services than building a mental health hospital next to MDH".

The union added it was eager to work with the Health Minister to address healthcare professional shortages and launch a holistic programme that favoured patients and staff.

The union's reaction contrasts with that of medical students, who have said they are concerned about the plan to move them away from the Mater Dei area.